CarbonPrompt — see the climate cost of every AI conversation
A browser and phone app that quietly tracks how many AI prompts you send, estimates the grams of CO2 each query added, and shows monthly trends plus 'this conversation cost the same as charging your phone X times.'
eco-aware consumers and students using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot daily
- Live 'this chat ≈ 3 g CO2' badge that updates as the conversation grows
- Monthly footprint view benchmarked against average streaming, email and search use
- 'Greener prompt' nudges that suggest shorter prompts when the alternative is the same answer
- A family or class dashboard so a group can see their collective AI footprint
The Guardian reveal that big-tech AI emissions are now a third of France's is breaking through — consumers are actively looking for ways to understand their personal share of AI's climate impact.
Several live competitors (OffsetAI, ChatGPT Carbon Tracker, ChatGPT Energy Tracker, AI Impact Tracker, Prompt CarbonFootprint Calculator) confirm a real audience, but all are small/niche projects rather than mainstream consumer hits.Offset AI - Estimate your carbon and water footprint automatically ↗ChatGPT Carbon Tracker - Chrome Web Store ↗
Market is already crowded: at least 4 Chrome extensions and 2 calculator sites directly track per-prompt CO2 across ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini, and OffsetAI already covers the multi-model use case CarbonPrompt describes.AI Impact Tracker - Monitor the Environmental Impact of ChatGPT Usage ↗Prompt CarbonFootprint Calculator - Track Your Digital Impact ↗ChatGPT Energy Tracker - Chrome Web Store ↗
Nearly all surveyed competitors are free (OffsetAI, the calculators, most extensions); carbon-tracking apps rely on freemium/subscription but eco-aware consumers show low willingness to pay for what feels like a passive widget, and OffsetAI explicitly markets itself as low-friction.Pebble - Digital Carbon Emissions Calculator ↗Monetization Models for Browser Extensions: From Free to Premium ↗
Trend is real and growing (Guardian, Le Monde, Fortune all covering AI datacenter emissions surge), but the same coverage points to enterprise/regulatory pressure — OpenAI/Google are likelier to ship native footprint stats than rely on third-party tools, threatening indie longevity.Datacentres drive up big tech's carbon emissions to a third of those of France - The Guardian ↗Accenture warns AI's carbon emissions could surge 11-fold ↗
Concept is clearly buildable — multiple small teams already shipped browser extensions and web calculators doing exactly this with token-counting heuristics; engineering risk is low but moat is weak.ChatGPT Carbon Tracker - SustainableSE project page ↗Prompt CarbonFootprint Calculator ↗